Cybersecurity

Swift CEO Steps Down After Era of Tech Disrupting Global Banking

  • Led payments network through Bangladesh heist, Iran dispute
  • Ex-McKinsey man retooled technology to compete with blockchain
Gottfried LeibbrandtPhotographer: Jason Alden
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Gottfried Leibbrandt will step down next June from Swift, the cross-border payment system, after spending seven years leading a key piece of global economic infrastructure through crises from hacking to sanctions on Iranian banks.

The cooperative, owned by the world’s biggest banks, is starting a search for his replacement as chief executive officer. Liebbrandt notified the organization’s 25-member board of his departure Wednesday morning, he said in an interview in Brussels.